Mormon friend ... What do I do

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Hello My name is Colten and I am 18 years old living in Alberta. I have been raised Catholic my entire life and have attended church on a consistent basis. I have been Catholic for 18 years of my life but have only considered myself a true follower In Christ the last 6 months. It was by the glory of God that in my darkest hours of partying and doing drugs I saw his light and was able to be saved for the grasp of Satan. I still remember the day I picked up the Bible and read for 2 hours straight. I often heard stories of people saying how they saw the light of Jesus and were instantly raised up into a better and more joyful life. Yet, this did not happen to me, from the first month I was filled with disgust and wondered how I had travelled so far from Gods unending grace. I continued to read the bible and began to find comfort in his words. I began to feel him and hear him talk to me, along with recognizing the devils voice in my head. Throughout all of this I can say I was lead to Jesus by my best friend. It was through his good living that aloud me to see the benefits of following Christ. This is what leads me to my question. My best friend is Mormon and he leaves on his mission in the next few months. In my learning through the bible I understand how dangerous the Mormon religion is. It disregards everything the Bible teaches us and is led by false prophets and leaders. I often thought that God put my best friend in my life to see his amazing glory. But now I am beginning to think that he is in my life for me to save him from a false prophet and God . My friendship with him means the world to me and even with his strong beliefs he has never pressured or tried to convert me. He has done so much for me and put me back on the right path. What is your advice for a situation like this? Do I tell him how I feel or allow God to handle it? I look forward to your insight
Thank you
Colten
 
Pray for him. I don’t believe anything you say will change him from his “mission.”

My husband grew up Mormon. He had never met a Catholic until he met me 20 yrs ago.

He now considers himself as a Christian, no longer affiliated w/ the Mormon Church.
 
The Mormon religion is not dangerous and Mormons should be treated with due respect in the spirit of ecumenism. The best thing to do to witness for Christ is behave in a Christ-like manner and you can start by correcting your attitude of intolerance towards Mormons.

Treat your Mormons friends as your would treat your Protestant friends or your Muslim friends or your atheist friends: with love and charity and without judgment.
 
I would not worry too too much about explicitly going out and trying to convert your friend.
Enjoy your fellowship and appreciate him for his good example to you.

Some day the holy spirit will lead you to have a conversation, or a series of conversations where you can share your faith and your beliefs. Trust in God and the holy spirit and do not take the burden upon yourself.

This is just my opinion of course…
 
Although the LDS faith isn’t totally correct in it’s beliefs, the people of the LDS church are generally pretty admirable and they usually set the example of how Christians ought to treat others very well.

I would pray for your friend, but I wouldn’t try to “bring him to the light”. If he IS that close to serving a mission, he’s probably pretty set in his faith. Any attempt to combat that will be viewed as a direct attack from Satan to prevent him from bringing other people to the “true church” while on his mission.

What I WOULD suggest doing for yourself… Start really reading up on apologetics. Your friend will spend the next 2 years being trained to convert people to the LDS Church, and will no doubt use the same tactics on you. Not because of any ulterior motive, but because he genuinely believes that your soul is in danger and he cares about you.

Good luck! I converted from the LDS church and still have my entire family a part of it. I understand the want to help your friend because I feel the same desire for my family.
 
God in His mercy is able to use any person and any situation to His glory. It doesn’t matter to Him whether the person is wholly within the Church founded by His Son or not.

Give thanks to God for your salvation.

Regarding your friend, it would be good for you to pray for him. Both of you might find mutual benefit in discussing how his example led to your turn. I would not recommend trying to evangelize him at this time, however.
 
God bless you, I will pray for you and your friend. All you can do is pray for him.
 
You have received good advice here.

If ever you should find yourself engaged in an apologetic discussion (with your friend or any other Mormon), I will offer a little advice (from a Catholic perspective).

Catholics and Mormons agree that Jesus established a Church on earth with earthly authority. We agree that this early Church was fully valid, and passed its authority to successors. We agree that this early Church was (and is) the Catholic Church.

Mormons, however, believe this Church fell into “total Apostasy” and became entirely corrupt (and the modern Catholic Church retains this corruption). The Church established by Jesus thus failed. God tried again (and again) with other prophets - having greater apparent success with Joseph Smith.

This doctrine of total apostasy is the heart (and weakness) of Mormon theology. If this apostasy never happened, they have no reason not to be Catholic, and there would have been no reason for God to need the services of Joseph Smith.

But apostasy is a difficult thing to hang your theology on, because it is not a matter of theology, but rather a matter of history. If apostasy happened, it would be a plain historical fact - an actual event. You could read about it in a regular encyclopedia or history book.

Ask a Mormon to show you this event in a regular encyclopedia or history book.
 
Thank you for your insight. I believe I’m just frustrated with him leaving for something I have no faith in. It’s hard to see your friend take on a journey you do not see right. I really don’t know if will have a talk before he leaves but I know god will enlighten my words and allow me to say the right things. I do not see Mormons as bad people just misleaded. I hope my friend will be guided to Gods true light someday, all I can really do
 
I just wanted to say Praise and thanks be to God for your wonderful testimony and always remember to give Him the glory and also welcome here. You are right God does have a purpose and God has given you the clear sighted wisdom that any teaching that leads the sheep astray ,even as passionate and as good as the LDS is with their desire to witness , spread their version of the gospel and convert people to their idea of salvation, is leading the flock astray from truth to their peril. However people are right that you can not just come out and say “you are wrong and going to hell” . The LDS beliefs really do sound very Christian ( I stumbled across a movie on TV that was about a young American woman on in Austria, I watched it because I love Austria and recognized places. At first i thought it was a Christian movie until about 1/2 way through they said something that made me realize they were Mormon. I continued to watch amazed at how Christian they sounded wondering if I was totally wrong about them because here they were asking people if they wanted to "follow the example of Jesus Christ and get baptized. What could be wrong with that right?..see how it goes). The person who said spend the next 2 years studying apologetics- basically what the Church teaches was right.

BUT
I do think that God gave you this gift ( faith is a gift our salvation is a gift it is all from Him) so that perhaps you can share your testimony with him before he leaves so as to plant a seed that you can water by your prayers over the next 2 years. Just tell him he means so much to you and has been such a good example of a person dedicated to something that kept him away from floundering around in the pit of self indulgence this world has become , that you want him to hear what God has done for you. Ask him just to listen and not say anything but to rejoice with you and that when he comes back you can talk more. Tell him it is a gift to him as you are sure he has been praying for you.

Finally know this to be true. Just because you have gotten into the Bible and God has enlightened your heart don’t think Satan will leave you alone. You now need to surround yourself with good strong faithful Catholic believers who WILL pray for you because now you have awoken from your slumber that Satan was happy you were in , you are in his sights. Have you ever read C.S Lewis’ Screwtape Letters? I highly recommend it , yes he is the one who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia.
My daughter turned 18 today and has had a similar awakening 4 months ago ,although she was not into drugs or drinking she was still in her me centered world. The battle that Satan has put up for her soul has been fierce. She has needed to go to adoration every day and I have had to pray for her every morning and evening. Once I slipped up and forgot and the was fierce and instant in his attack- for a moment I thought she was possessed but went straight to prayer and it passed.
I do not say these things to scare you because know also that you have a whole host of angels and saints that can be called to surround you and defend you in battle- I am sure you have read some of the stories in the OT already how they fight in the heavenly realms on our behalf- read about Daniel yet? If not it is a must for any young man. You have been recruited as a warrior in God’s army put on your armor and rejoice also because we know the end of the story- Jesus has the winning team!
I will pray for every day you and I am sure so will all the people here. Please feel free to PM me whenever you need extra prayers. I have kids your age and I know the fight is on.
 
stanczyk said:
The Mormon religion is not dangerous and Mormons should be treated with due respect in the spirit of ecumenism. The best thing to do to witness for Christ is behave in a Christ-like manner and you can start by correcting your attitude of intolerance towards Mormons.

Treat your Mormons friends as your would treat your Protestant friends or your Muslim friends or your atheist friends: with love and charity and without judgment.
Click to expand...
The OP didn’t sound intolerant and judgmental at all. Concern for the soul of a friend in a religion one deems to be erroneous is truly charitable.
 
It has been my experience that Mormons are exceptionally kind people with a strong conscience. Even though I find serious problems with their religion, I have a lot of respect for them because of their exceptional kindness, their strong dedication to their moral convictions, and their ability to keep their families strong in their faith. If more Catholics were like that, they’d change the world. Pray that Mormons will see and embrace the truth in Catholicism.
 
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